Tom Brady makes triumphant return to New England with victory and all-time passing document
For the primary time in his profession, Brady ran out on the Gillette Stadium — house of the New England Patriots — from the away dressing room.
Returning to his house of 20 years, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback obtained one over his former group, in addition to former coach Invoice Belichick, with a hard-fought 19-17 victory in heavy rain.
It was becoming that on his homecoming to the venue the place he cast his identify as arguably the best quarterback in historical past, Brady surpassed Drew Brees to grow to be the NFL’s all-time chief in passing yards.
The 44-year-old reached the milestone with a 28-yard go to Mike Evans within the first quarter, ending the night time on 269 yards to set the brand new all-time benchmark for passing yardage at 80,560.
“I simply assume it is an incredible statistic in that so many individuals can share in it with me,” Brady informed reporters after the sport.
“A quarterback does not throw and catch, a quarterback can simply throw it. Passing yards need to be caught, so I simply hope that everyone who caught passes from me through the years had just a little smile on their face tonight realizing that they contributed to a really cool document.
“There’s some folks that have preceded it … Drew Brees, who I look as much as as a hell of a man, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Dan Marino however clearly my teammates who caught all these passes through the years imply an terrible lot to me,” Brady added.
Victory added one other entry in Brady’s by no means ending log of information — he’s now simply the fourth quarterback in historical past to have crushed all 32 NFL groups, becoming a member of Favre, Brees and Manning.
Patriots kicker Nick Folks was mere inches away from stripping Brady of the accolade and spoiling the homecoming, his 56-yard discipline aim try with lower than a minute to play bouncing agonizingly off the crossbar.
‘Nothing’s actually correct that I ever see’
Within the run as much as the sport, Brady had been coy about his emotions surrounding a return to face the group that he left as a free agent in 2020.
Brady received six Tremendous Bowls with Belichick throughout 20 years, however as a Buccaneer has since gone on to safe a seventh ring. Forward of of Sunday’s sport, the quarterback’s father — Tom Brady Sr — had spoken about his son’s most up-to-date Tremendous Bowl success being a vindication for leaving the Patriots.
Brady referenced Belichik as a “nice mentor” forward of his return to Foxborough, however questioned hypothesis over the pair’s relationship in his post-match press convention.
“We had a private relationship, for twenty plus years. He drafted me right here, had lots of private conversations that ought to stay that approach and are very personal,” Brady stated.
“I might say a lot is fabricated from our relationship and, as I stated earlier this week, from a participant standpoint you simply count on the coach to present you all the pieces he is obtained.
“I am positive as a participant I am positive that is what he hoped for me, however nothing’s actually correct that I ever see — it undoubtedly does not come from my private emotions or beliefs.
“I’ve lots of respect for him as a coach and lots of respect for this group and all of the totally different individuals right here which might be attempting to make it profitable,” Brady added.
Thanks for the reminiscences
The 44-year-old was welcomed to cheers on the Gillette Stadium and was honored with a one-minute spotlight reel pre-game, however was booed because the Patriots tried to rally for victory throughout the match.
“That was fairly cool,” Brady informed NBC when requested about his pre-game reception.
“It has been my house for 20 years. I’ve one of the best reminiscences. My children had been born right here. It is only a nice city, an excellent metropolis, an excellent space. I like it up right here.
“I’ve so many individuals I’ve relationships with, however this was about this group arising right here to win. This wasn’t about one participant. This was about our whole group happening the highway beating an excellent group.
“Yeah they cheered for me just a little bit however on the finish, they had been cheering for his or her group and clearly they wished the Patriots to return by way of.”
Victory for Brady and the Buccaneers takes them to a 3-1 document forward of their house fixture with the Miami Dolphins subsequent Sunday, while Belichick’s Patriots will look to show the tide on their 1-3 begin to the season after they go to the Houston Texans.
